


I Still Believe

by Starrie_Wolf



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Community: avland, You don't need to be superhuman to be a superhero, everyday heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 17:25:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5594683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starrie_Wolf/pseuds/Starrie_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Phil Coulson. I’m thirty-three years old, and I still believe in superheroes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Still Believe

**Author's Note:**

> AvLand Winter Mission task: Write a fic of at least 200 words that includes Agent Coulson.

Take a look around you.

We’re working in an agency so classified that the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, the DHS and the MI5 can’t find us.

Step 1: Secret identity, check.

Wander over to the commissary or the water cooler, and you’ll probably overhear conversations involving phrases like “Black Widow” or “Hawkeye”.

Step 2: Cool-sounding codenames, check.

Head down to the basement level – no, the actual basement, down the lift through the false doors in the library – and you’ll see rows upon rows of R&D at least five years beyond what the public has access to.

Step 3: Advanced technology bordering on magic, check.

If you’ve got a security clearance high enough, you can head over to the control room, where there’s surveillance equipment running 24/7, pulling feeds from all over the world straight to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Step 4: Keeping an eye on the bad guys, check.

But most importantly, all these people you just walked past to get to these destinations? These are the people who head out, day after day, to bring the bad guys in. Sometimes they come home safe. Sometimes they come home in a box. Sometimes, there’s not enough left of them to fit into a box, and we have to put their favourite mementos in the casket to have something to bury at all.

They don’t do this for the glory. They don’t do this for the fame. Their family members, if any, are fed some standard line about gas explosions or severe allergies or food poisoning – something mundane, and unavoidable. After a while, no one outside S.H.I.E.L.D. will even know that they’ve ever existed, that someone once gave up their lives to protect the very peace we hold so dear.

This is why –

My name is Phil Coulson. I’m thirty-three years old, and I still believe in superheroes.

**Author's Note:**

> [I have a Tumblr if you're interested!](starriewolf.tumblr.com)


End file.
